1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for the superimposition of a preoperative 3D image over a 2D image obtained intraoperatively with a C-arm. In particular, the invention relates to the display of a 3D image representing a medical instrument that has been introduced into the area of examination of a patient and is contained within the 2D image.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Increasingly, patients are being examined and treated in a minimally invasive manner, i.e., with as little operative intrusion as possible. Examples of this approach are procedures using endoscopes, laparoscopes, or catheters, which are introduced into the examination or treatment region in the patient through a small body orifice. For example, catheters often are used in cardiology examinations.
From both a medical and a technical viewpoint, a problem is that although during the intervention (operation, examination) the medical instrument (the further text describes a catheter as a non-restrictive example) can be displayed very exactly and with a high resolution in one or more fluoroscopic images (also called 2D fluoroscopic images) using an intraoperative X-ray procedure with a C-arm, the 2D fluoroscopic images insufficiently display the anatomy of the patient. Furthermore, in the process of operation planning, the physician often wishes to display the medical instrument as a 3D image (3D data record) before the actual intervention (preoperative stage).